The perception gap among buyer and suppliers in the semiconductor industry

Strong and productive partnerships between buyers and suppliers are important for effective outsourcing. Such partnerships should be based on mutual understanding, which can be hampered by a perception gap between the supply chain partners with respect to what are the critical factors for a successful buyer‐supplier relationship. The nature of such a perception gap is explored by looking into the partnership between a Korean semiconductor manufacturer and its suppliers. Results indicate that there exist statistically significant differences in some of the perceptions both between the manufacturer and its suppliers and among the suppliers according to their production capability and product requirement.